By WILLIAM ARNOLD, P-I MOVIE CRITIC

Published 10:00 pm, Thursday, March 8, 2007

The big boom in inspirational and religious films has primarily been a phenomenon of the independent cinema -- small-budget movies bankrolled by church-affiliated groups. And given the failure of New Line's more expensive "The Nativity Story," it seems likely to stay that way.

But 20th Century-Fox has gotten into the act with a division -- Fox Faith -- that expects to release as many as 20 low-to-mid-level budget films a year. Most will be independently financed, but some will be in-house studio productions.

This week's "The Ultimate Gift" is a good example of what the studio hopes to give us in the genre. It's a well-made little inspirational drama featuring both a familiar older star (James Garner) and a new one (Abigail Breslin), with a moderate release on 500 screens in 128 cities.

Based on a novel by James Stovall (which I'd never heard of, but it supposedly sold 3 million copies), it's the story of a dying billionaire (Garner) who manipulates the moral education of his spoiled and seemingly worthless grandson (Drew Fuller).

As the film opens, the tycoon has just died and his greedy family learns that they've all been disinherited -- except for the grandson. The old man has taped instructions by which the boy will undergo a series of tests. If he completes them successfully, he'll get some cash. The boy rejects the idea but soon thinks better of it. In the course of the story, the trials he must endure teach him the secrets of a truly successful life: the joy of hard work, the gift of giving, the value of gratitude and more.

The movie starts out very clumsily -- portraying a family so impossibly shallow and despicable they belong in a National Lampoon magazine -- and scene after scene defies credulity. Its sensibility lies more in the realm of fairy tales. Still, its overall quality is a clear cut above the run of Catholic, Mormon and Baptist religious films that have played Seattle in the past few years. The script is tight and often compelling, the dialogue sparks and the production values are first-rate.

It also makes very good use of its stars. Playing an extension of his 1963 "Wheeler Dealers" character, Garner gives the movie a folksy touch of class, and Breslin ("Little Miss Sunshine") steals her every scene as a precocious little girl dying of leukemia.

Best of all, the film communicates its message without belaboring its moral points or throwing in any overt religious dogma. Christ is mentioned only once and I couldn't tell from the story or the credits what the religious affiliation of the producers might be.

While it's far from a must-see film, its sincerity, optimism and air of open-minded tolerance go down well, and it makes a nice change-of-pace from the kind of hip cynicism that seems to infuse even the most genial of Hollywood family films these days.